Tuesday, 8 September 2009

Tagliatelle with leeks prawns and pine nuts

I'm probably a bit mad but when a friend asked if I wanted to run the Leicester half-marathon with him I didn't give it much thought and just said yes. Well, I can't resist a challenge!

With just one month to go until the big day I've been training hard going on runs of 10 miles and more, yesterday I ran the full 13.1 mile half-marathon distance just to make sure I could actually do it - thankfully I could!

What's all this got to do with food? Well it'll come as no surprise I'm sure that running works up a big appetite, it's particularly important when running or doing any kind of exercise to eat enough carbohydrates. That's why I came up with this dish of Tagliatelle with prawns, leeks and toasted pine nuts, not only is it delicious but it's got plenty of carbs it's healthy and it's really easy to put together.I started by putting a pan of tagliatelle pasta on to cook meanwhile I softened some finely chopped leeks and garlic with the zest of a lemon in a little olive oil. Once the pasta was almost cooked I added chopped tomatoes to the pan of leeks along with some prawns and a dollop of creme fraiche (substitute sour or double/heavy cream). As soon as the tomatoes and prawns had heated through I tossed the pasta and sauce together along with some shredded basil and served it with toasted pine nuts on top.

The sauce was really light and fresh tasting, it was just what I wanted after a long run. If you don't want to use prawns then you could use white crab meat or tuna for a different but no less tasty dish. You could also try adding different vegetables such as peppers or broccoli.

Sam, good luck on the race! I need to make this into a post, though I'll sum it up: While I don't know what your exact goals are for the half, what has been working for me, especially in my last race, is training based on time and not miles. You clearly can handle the mileage and it's probably best to stick with what's working, but if you go out with a time base (take what your finishing time might be based on the pace you're planning on running) and just run it, not really paying attention to mileage or pace, but effort. It kind of gives you an intuitive inner pace feel and that way, come race time and in the latter portion of the race, your mind will know that you can handle being out there for x amount of time.

hopefully that made a little sense! if you have any questions just drop me an email and I'll try and help.